A letter to a French youth

Vietnam, …year 2035

Dear Nathalie,

Big congrats on your decision to do your graduate studies in Vietnam - one of the 10 countries in the world that boast the best education based on UNESCO’s rankings!

Regarding enrolment procedures, what you need to do is simply register online at your choice university’s website and pay an enrolment fee by credit card. The fee includes medical insurance and civil liability insurance. Except for this fee, you will not pay any tuition or any other fee during an academic year if you opt for a public school.

You will have to sign up again at the start of the next school year until your graduation. Your school will send you a student card at your address a couple of days following your enrolment.

The student card allows you to read and borrow books from inter-university libraries and use musical instruments and sports gear. It also gives you access to your school’s gym and stadium, and discounts on meals at the school’s canteen, public transport fare, and cost of books and stationery bought nationwide.

Regarding accommodation, you can choose to stay at your school’s dorm complex for international students or a family referred by your university.

Located near bus and metro stations, the dorm complex for international students is a miniature city with a wide array of services, ranging from cuisine and shopping to leisure and health care. It also boasts nearly 100 buildings in accordance with the number of countries that have students learning in Vietnam. Each building bears the architectural features typical of each country, thus giving you the feeling of being at home and immersed in a cultural melting pot as well.

You can also opt to stay with one of the families introduced by your school. The hospitable families have provided homestays for international students for several years.

The cost is not higher than that in a dorm complex, and the homestays will give you special tastes of a Vietnamese family’s life, particularly experiences of the rhythm-rich Vietnamese accent and the country’s refined gastronomy.

Apart from compulsory modules in your major, classes in other fields and social skills are also viable, added options. Based on the school’s curriculum and lecturers’ teaching schedules, which are published at the start of every quarter on your school’s website, you can easily decide to learn with the lecturers whose schedules fit yours for each module and subject.

All the teaching staff are brilliant in their field and have an excellent command of foreign languages. You can always find friends or lecturers who speak French to help you out with your academic difficulties. Textbooks and reference materials in French and other languages abound in the libraries.

Do you wonder why Vietnam has achieved such accomplishments? It’s a long story, and I’ll try to give you some general ideas in this letter.

First of all, education funding comes from two regular sources, the State and enterprises. The government earmarks an appropriate budget for the education sector and exempts enterprises contributing to the sector’s growth from taxes, or levies lighter taxes on them. Enterprises make orders for and finance schools’ scientific research, purchase schools’ patents, allow students to visit and serve their apprenticeship at their premises and offer discounts on their products and services to students, teaching and educational staff.

The curricula are designed scientifically and cohesively, with close links forged among subjects, classes and education levels. Different textbooks are compiled. The books not only detail the curricula’s highlights for teachers and students, but also clarify tricky problems.

Parents can peruse textbooks to tutor their children at home. Students can also teach themselves by poring over such textbooks. The teaching staff can take their own initiative and choices in terms of which textbooks to use, and how to allocate knowledge in classes depending on students’ capacity, without being placed under constraints like before.

Universities benefit from accomplishments of the local high school education system and draw a considerable number of international students. Due attention is given to developing vocational schools and orienting students to enroll in such schools dependent on their abilities. Except for a number of universities which recruit its learners by organizing entrance exams, high school graduates can enroll in most universities and colleges. Most courses in universities and colleges last three years, just like those offered in Europe and America.

Facilities training high school teachers only recruit university graduates, who will then receive two more years’ training in pedagogy. Their training programs rest on three major principles: intertwining theory and practice; being open and dynamic; and personalization to best cater to students’ individual needs. Being open and dynamic means taking into consideration the country’s current education situation, and the progress of the education systems in Vietnam and other countries in the context of globalization.

Universities and colleges retain graduates with flying colors, who will move on to postgraduate studies and receive training to join the lecturer teams.

The teaching staff’s salaries and allowances vary based on their education levels, length of service, and performance. They make a decent living on their teaching incomes so that they are wholeheartedly dedicated to their teaching calling and scientific research.

Education management is a profession and has its own salary level. Education management officials are recruited and receive preliminary training before their appointment, and regular training after their appointment.

Assessment of learners glides from appreciation of information retention and representation to encouraging learners’ abilities to search for, choose, integrate information and apply knowledge in problem solving. Apart from conventional testing, other forms of learner assessment are also adopted.

Students of non-mainstream high school systems, vocational schools and universities adopt the same curricula and take the same graduation exams with mainstream, full-time students. Different education systems thus have no difference in graduate quality.

Schools, students’ and teachers’ dorms boast material comforts, and serve as artistic and cultural crossing points.

Teaching methodology and kits are also modernized. Teachers try to engage learners in solving problematic situations. The problem solving process helps learners grasp new knowledge and consolidate old knowledge.

You will experience first-hand the key to the success achieved by Vietnam’s education in your coming school year.

All the best, and see you in Vietnam!

CONG KHANH (51)

Source: Tuoi Tre Newspaper